Telephone-disinfector.



PATENTED AUG. 28, 1906.

N. J. TUBES. TELEPHONE DISINFEGTOR.

Inventor Nelson J Mb;

APPLICATION FILED MAY 8, 1905.

Attorneys UNI TED STATES PATENT canon.

NELSON J. Tunes. OFLOUISVILLE,KENTUCKY, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-FOURTH TO HARDIN COLLINGS, ONE-EIGHTH TOFRANK c. CARPENTER, AND j ONE-EIGHTH TO'WALTER F. JONES, or LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY.

TEL-EPHONE-DISINFECTOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 28, 1906.

Application filed May 8.1906. Serial No. 259,461.

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, NELsoN J. TOBBS, a. citizen of the United States, residing in Louis' ville, in the county of Jefferson and State of Kentucky, have invented certain new and,

range the disinfecting means that, it willv maintain efiective relation with the parts to be disinfected While the telephone is not in use.

Another object is to so construct the'disinfecting means thatit will close the cavity of the receiving instrument while not in use and will present the disinfectant thereto, as Well as to the surrounding parts, at such time.

A further object is to so construct the device that it may be readily ap lied to 'any existing instrument and therea'ter removed therefrom without in any way disfiguring the instrument, so that a subscriber to a telephone system can a ly the disinfecting device independently, 1 desired.

Other objects are to produce a simple, neat, and efiective construction for the accomplishment of the various-functions of the invention.

With these several objects in view my invention consists in certain novel means and features of construction hereinafter fully described, and particularly pointed out in the claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,in which-- Figure 1 is a perspective view of a desktelephone to which my invention is applied by way of illustration, though not limited in its application to this ty e of telephone. Fig. 2 is a similar view of t e upper portion of a telephone with the receiver removed, the switch-lever raised, and the disinfecting device 'automatically removed from the transmitter. ig. 3 is a. sectional view of the receiver-disinfecting means, and ig. 4 is a plan view of the bracket which supports the receiver-disi ifecting means. I

, 1 represents the base, the standard, 3

One object of the present invention is to the transmitter, 4 the receiver, and 5 thesWitch-lever, of a telephone of known con struction wherein the switchlever 5' auto' matically rises on the removal of the receiver to close the. telephone-circuit. The transmitter of. the telephone is usually supported by a hinging joint, such'as 6, either directly, as in a movable or desk telephone, or indirectly through an arm, as in a wall or cabinet telephone.

' The importance of disinfectingthe receiver of a telephone has not generally been recognized. 1 Y

One feature of my present invention consists in providing a disinfecting device for the receiver, for which purpose I provide a cup 7,

.located in such position that hen the receiver is returned to the switch-arm that art which comes in contact with the ear wi be. in close proximity to or restin upon the cup. This cup may'contain a suitab e absorbent orother vehicle 8 for the disinfecting medium and is preferably. provided with a covering 9 of gauze, while the cup'issupported on an arm 10, having a collar 11, which embraces the standard 2 and is connected to the cup by a slotted 'base -12, which receives the arms of the bracket 10, and a bolt 13, which clamps the arms to the cup. This construction 1s simple and effective and provides for attachment to any ordinary desk-telephone and permits vertical adjustment tobring the cup 7 in proper relation to the receiver Obviously if the cup is to be held in similar relation to the receiver of a wall-telephone a different form of bracket 10 may readily be' provided and attached to theinstrument in any suitable Way.

To disinfect the transmitter, a cap 14 may be provided, which may likewise carry an absorbent or other vehicle for disinfectants and which is movable to a position over the transmitter when the instrument is not in use and from such position to a position where it will offer no obstruction when the instrument is in use. This movement is preferably a swinging movement on a pintle 15, parallel to the axis of the transmitter, since this movement avoids liability of the cap striking the user in its movement. Pintle 15 is referably supported on the mouth piece 16 y'a-frame 17, easily slipped over the conical mouthpiece when the latter is un-- .ment through connection 24 from the switch- ,be secured to pintle' 15 by a set-screw 30, or if screwed from the transmitter. This pro- I confining the evaporation of the disinfectant vides for mounting the disinfecting device on the transmitter and for readily removing it therefrom without injuringrthe instrument. l

To operate the disinfectant-cap automatically, pintle 15 has a crank-arm 18, connected by the rod or other connection 20 to an arm 21 of a rock-shaft 22, whose otherend has a crank-arm 23, vwhich receives movelever 5. If the pintle 15 is in a position which will cause the cap 14 to gravitate from its position in front of the receiver, connections 20 and 24 may obviously he flexible connections, as their control will then simply be exercised to return the cap through tension on these connections. If, however, the pintle-15 is otherwise located, these connections may be rigid, so that they mayimpart movement to the cap in both directions. Connection 24 is secured to lever 5 by a strap 25, readily remov-- able, and rock-shaft 22 has its bearings at 26 on the frame 17 and at 27 in an arm 28, which projects upwardly from the screwpin 29 of hinge 6. By means of the arm 28, secured as described, a'fixed relation between the bear-l ings 26 and 27 is maintained even though the transmitter be adjusted vertically on its hinge 6. At the same time the arc in which the upper end of arm 28 moves is so small as to not, seriously change the distance between crank 23 and lever 5 or require change in adjustment of the parts when the transmitter is raised or lowered between ordinary limits. If, however, adjustment is needed in the'connections, this may readily be made by shifting one of the parts -such, for instance, as the crank arm 18which may for this purpose the connections 20 and 24 are of flexible material they may readily be taken upas, for instance, by having a sliding knot at one point.

No invention per se is claimed for the transmitter-disinfecting device, the object of the invention merely being to provide an improveddisinfecting means for the telephonereceiver.

It will be seen that by my improvements preventing the admission of dust and largely to the cavity, and thereby rendering the disinfecting more complete.

While I have herein shown certain specific details of construction by reason of the appli cation of my invention to that form of a tele phone selected for purposes of illustration, I desire it to be understood that I do not thereby limit the scope of my inventionto this particular construction or to use upon this particular type of instrument, as it is obvious that by suitable changes in these minor features of constructions the parts may be adapted to instruments of different design.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new therein, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In combination with a telephone and close the cavity of the receiver; said cup being adj ustably mounted in vertical alinement with the receiver-hook.

3. Ina telephone-disinfector, the combination of the cup for disinfectant, adapted to receive the receiver, an arm supporting the cup and a clamp adapted to secure said arm to a telephone.

4. In a telephone-disinfector, the combination of the cup having the slotted base, the su porting-arm entering said slot, and the ho t clamping-the arm to the cup. I

5. In combination with a telephone and the switch-arm moving under the weight of the receiver, a disinfecting device located beneath the switch-arm in position to receive the end of the receiver after it is placed upon the switch-arm.

The foregoing specification signed at Louisville, Kentucky, this 22d day of April, 1905.

' NELSON J. TUBBS. In presence of BARTLETT VVELEY, LAWRENCE .S. LEoPoLD. 

